#14 Amsterdam, The Netherlands

<strong>2005 assets at risk:</strong> $128.3 billion<strong>2070 est. assets at risk:</strong> $843.7 billion<strong>2005 population at risk:</strong> 839,000<strong>2070 est. population at risk: </strong>1.4 million

A fierce North Sea storm hit the Netherlands in early 1953, killing 1,836 people and causing 100,000 to be evacuated. The Dutch saw waters top about 150 dykes, their primary defense against rising waters.

Amsterdam's history of flood control is actually hundreds of years older than that. This accumulated knowledge is the foundation for its climate-change adaptation planning, according to a Carbon Disclosure Project report (PDF)on European cities released last month. Richer cities, such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Tokyo and London are protected to the level of a 1-in-1,000 year flood, the OECD reports.